This is a free community event as part of the 2025 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival.
Noted for the sweetness and wide range of his voice, Adlai Alexander sings and accompanies himself with intricate guitar in a way that’s rare in both the acoustic and jazz worlds.
Adlai enjoys the challenge of arranging band or orchestral music for solo guitar, drawing from his formal training in classical theory and composition. At times, his arrangements of jazz, Brazilian, ‘60s pop, and other music demand that he play simultaneous melody and bass lines.
Sources for Adlai’s unexpected repertoire include Broadway and the Amazon rain forest, and he is known to sing in Portuguese, Hindi, or Japanese in any given set. Along with original music, he’s written lyrics for his own renditions of instrumental songs by the likes of Wayne Shorter, Dave Brubeck, and Ralph Towner. He’s also created lyrics based on quotes from Shakespeare, or titles of Duke Ellington songs
